Halo Reach has no story.

[Cyan.]

None.

No - Before you try and correct me, you are wrong.
If you believe me to be wrong, you need to sprint as fast as you can to the nearest library and open the first book you see and begin reading in earnest.
It doesn?t matter which one. Anyone will do?

Allow me to explain myself. I love all the halo series. Halo reach was an exciting and action packed thrill ride with some excellent cinematic moments and multiplayer is just damned awesome.

However, it has no story.


I decided to play co-op with my girlfriend and this is her first ever Halo game. She doesn?t know ANYTHING about the series and when we finished the game, she turned to me and said "Borderlands had a story that was better told than that" and god dammit if she wasn?t right.

The game is a prequel. I was expecting it to explain the back-story.


But no.


It explains zip. Nada. Try and think of it from the shoes of someone who has never played a single halo game.

My girlfriend was asking these types of questions.

"Where is Reach"? "What is a Spartan"?, "What the hell is a banshee and how do I take one out"?, "Who are all these people"?, "What are Spartans for"?, "Who are these rebels and what do they rebel against"? "WHO THE HELL ARE THE COVENANT AND WHY DOES IT MATTER THAT THEY ARE ON REACH"!?!

I couldn?t even answer half the questions myself! Who is Dr Halsey? Why should I care? Who is that commander dude and what happened to him in the end? Why is Jorge the only Spartan who is mega tall like the Chief?

There were many more.

The game suddenly throws you on Reach - OK YOUR NOBEL 6 AND MAYBE YOU ARE REPLACING SOMEONE, BUT LETS NEVER TOUCH ON THAT AGAIN! OK IT?S THE COVENENT GET EM!!!!

From the get go they are tossing halo pro jargon at you. I of course, knew the names of all the enemy types and whatnot, but my poor girlfriend was left totally in the dark.

The characters were also totally 1 dimensional. The only one who was even the slightest bit interesting was Jorge, and he dies first.

It didn?t feel like we were fighting a losing battle. At no point did the shit hit the fan. At no point was there presented to me a massive invading army or ships raining planet glassing death lasers upon the surface. Wasn?t there ment to be some kind of space battle in orbit of thousands of ships?
We simply went from one random local to the next, with the AI (I only knew she was an AI because of the robotic tone in her voice. If she had a normal voice like Cortana, I would never have known) briefing us about what buttons we may need to hold X over.

It felt like a random mission generator intended to take you through a bunch of excellent and well designed levels for multiplayer fun. I particularly enjoyed the helicopter level myself.

At no point however, did it tell a story. It sure as hell PRETENDED to tell one and it seems to have pulled a fast one over half the internet, which is why I must make this ranty thread.
Campaign was all an excuse for some military style cut scenes of dudes in halo outfits looking badass, In between meaningless (yet fun) blasting of alien hordes.
Sure, the scene where you freefall from the stratosphere while you watch the ship explode into 2 seperate dimensions looks totally awesome - But these awesome clips need to actually MEAN something bungie.

My girlfriend summed it up perfectly.

This game is great, but can you hurry and skip these stupid movies so we can get back to shooting the things that turn red under the reticule?

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Well when you look at it like that then....

I don't know I guess you're right

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Yes it does. It's incredibly simple, bu it's meant to be. What the game focuses on instead is atmosphere, and it accomplishes that very well. Much better than most games, actually.

You can't say it doesn't have a story. That's quite clearly stupid. And wrong.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Wow did my comment disappear?

I understood the story.
I'm sorry that you didn't.

He never said "I didn't get it" he said the game doesn't explain any of the stuff that we were supposed to know by now (b/c we all are Halo fans /s) like why there are spartans, why they'e on Reach, what are the Covenant and why are they trying to kill you. Who is Dr. Halsey etc...

When he puts it in that context then I guess he's right. The game doesn' really have a story. (Well it doesn't deliver a prequel type story)

 

[zHellas]

Yes it does. It's incredibly simple, bu it's meant to be. What the game focuses on instead is atmosphere, and it accomplishes that very well. Much better than most games, actually.

You can't say it doesn't have a story. That's quite clearly stupid. And wrong.

The story is basically: Here's a bunch of Spartans that fought during the Fall of Reach. They'll all die. But they'll die awesomely.

 

[emeraldrafael]

ddi you ever think its not supposed to? Its bungee's good bye to halo triology, and its just letting go. Maybe they wanted to just give you the best game they could wihtout story, a nice bittersweet end to a series many love.

Hell, i dont even like halo, but when i saw this, i just had to input. Every game has story. Bungee's not serving you! Its telling a story for the game. The halo games are over. go read the damn books, or oh god, no. no... i have to use my imagination!?! Just get over it and enjoy the damn game.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Yes it does. It's incredibly simple, bu it's meant to be. What the game focuses on instead is atmosphere, and it accomplishes that very well. Much better than most games, actually.

You can't say it doesn't have a story. That's quite clearly stupid. And wrong.

The story is basically: Here's a bunch of Spartans that fought during the Fall of Reach. They'll all die. But they'll die awesomely.

Exactly, that's it. But the atmoshpere they create with the music, environment design etc. is amazing.

 

[Duke Machine]

Well I liked it, theres a reason you don't jump into a series at the very end...

 

[RedDeadFred]

It's not supposed to supply a lot of the stuff you just ranted about because even though it's a prequel, it does partially rely on you having knowledge from the previous games. To say it has no story is preposterous. It just depends on whether you liked or understood it. I thought it had the best story out of all the halo games but then again, I've played all of the halo games, in order. Because of this, I understood everything they were talking about.

 

[ViaticalTarsier]

Think of Halo Reach as Halo #4. Its not meant to be played first and it assumes you know the basic halo things such as reach.

"At no point was there presented to me a massive invading army or ships raining planet glassing death lasers upon the surface. "

Well perhaps you should look around at your surroundings and see whats going on in the background and you'll see massive battles going on and some really nice set pieces. I beat the campaign three times and every playthrough I'm always like "wow there is a massive covenant ship above me raining plasma on some poor city/battlefield out in the distance that I never noticed". These things are easy to miss when you are in the middle of combat. Its also easy to miss dialogue thats going on around you.

Basically the story isn't spoon fed to you and you must pay attention/know some background to know whats going on.

 

[demoman_chaos]

Spoiler: Something I was tempted to do to a Halo reach poster in Walmart

I was gonna write KIA next on the poster that lists all the main characters, but I doubt many would know it means Killed In Action.

Spoiler: The whole story to reach

They fight the covenant who are the equivilant to the Christians on a holy crusade. Despite the player kicking ass, the humans lose and all the characters die. The last one dies to save the Master Chef (he is a great cook, and not a leader of an Indian tribe like the Cherokee).

 

[Gigaguy64]

Well i got the story and i felt for the characters.
Even though iv never read the book i still understood perfectly what was going on.
But i also felt for the Characters in CoD:MW2...

It does have a story, Here are Spartans, the Covenant is invading, and you must defend your home.
A Story doesn't haft to be a great English Novel, it can be as simple as Jill and Bill want to the Store for Milk.

Besides, the whole point of the game was Halo on Reach, which it is.

 

[Arisato-kun]

Most people that bought Reach knew all of those things already. It's Bungie's good-bye so of course the game is going to be a shout-out to fans.

Reach was a game made for fans. Is that really a bad thing?

IMO it's not. I hated all Halo games after the first and I adore Reach.

Also did your girlfriend get you to make this thread? I know a few people that felt the same way and didn't see the need to ***** to the internet about it.

 

[zHellas]

Yes it does. It's incredibly simple, bu it's meant to be. What the game focuses on instead is atmosphere, and it accomplishes that very well. Much better than most games, actually.

You can't say it doesn't have a story. That's quite clearly stupid. And wrong.

The story is basically: Here's a bunch of Spartans that fought during the Fall of Reach. They'll all die. But they'll die awesomely.

Exactly, that's it. But the atmoshpere they create with the music, environment design etc. is amazing.

Yeah, though at first I thought the Elites looked pretty silly.

Also, why didn't they make the Brutes like they were in Halo 2(the first ever time I met them. They also scared the shit out of me a few times in that game)?

 

[anthony87]

Well I liked it, theres a reason you don't jump into a series at the very end...

The end?

It's a game that takes place before any other game in the series.

 

[RyanBishop]

i know

None.

No - Before you try and correct me, you are wrong.
If you believe me to be wrong, you need to sprint as fast as you can to the nearest library and open the first book you see and begin reading in earnest.
It doesn?t matter which one. Anyone will do?

I know the perfect book its called 'The fall of Reach'

This.

Also, the sole purpose of Reach was to get some more dough out of the Halo franchise before the gig is over. And trust me... this ain't the last (first?) chapter of Halo. In 3 to 5 years there'll be a reboot and Halo-fans will once again shower their favorite game with overwhelming praise.

 

[Oh That Dude]

None.

No - Before you try and correct me, you are wrong.

I lol'd, then stopped reading.

 

[Guthixflare7]

Reach should not be the first halo game you play normally to learn a story you have to play EVERY game not just pull out the last one in the series (prequel or not) and hope it explains everything.Odds are if you buy reach you have or did own another halo game or atleast you know what the story is.